Tension prevailed in Ghazipur district after two sects of Muslims clashed over keeping tazia and playing drums to observe mourning late on Monday night.
The incident took an ugly turn when someone opened fire during the clash, injuring three persons. While one of the victims was in serious condition after a bullet hit his stomach, the other two received minor injuries as they were hit by shrapnel. The injured are being treated at the district hospital, while the critically injured youth has been referred to Varanasi.
As soon as the information about the clash was received, senior police officers reached the spot along with a heavy police force and chased away the troublemakers.
According to local police officials, there was an altercation between two sides of the same community over playing the drums and keeping tazia in Rajdepur under Sadar Kotwali police area of Ghazipur district late on Monday night.
They claimed that both the sides clashed with each other over the issue during which a youth, later on identified as Sheru, opened fire. The bullet hit the stomach of a youth identified as Afaq Ahmed. Apart from this, some people present around Afaq Ahmed also received shrapnel injuries. All the injured were admitted to the district hospital. After receiving first aid there, Afaq Ahmed was referred to Varanasi. Police said all the injured were out of danger.
Adeeb, brother of the seriously injured Afaq Ahmed, said that on Monday night, tazia was being kept at Chowk. During this, the people from another sect of the community arrived and staged a protest over keeping tazia and also playing drums. He said that some persons also clashed during the dispute after which Sheru opened fire.
A heavy police force is camping in the area to avert any untoward incident. Police have started an investigation after registering a case.
Superintendent of Police of Ghazipur, Rohan P Botre, said that the police were investigating after registering a case.
Police teams have been constituted to arrest the accused. Soon the culprits would be arrested and necessary action would be taken against them, he added.